Guadalupe

Gretchen Peters: Guadalupe


there are ghosts out
in the rain tonight
high up in those ancient trees
and i have given up
without a fight
another blind fool on his knees
and all the gods
that i've abandoned
begin to speak in simple tongues
suddenly i've come to know
there are no roads left to run

now it's the hour
of dogs a-barking
that's what the old ones
used to say
it's first light or it's sundown
before the children
cease their play
when the mountains glow like mission wine
and turn grey
like a spanish roan
ten thousand eyes
will stop to worship
then turn away
and head on home
she is reaching out
her arms tonight
and my poverty is real
i pray roses shall
rain down again
from guadalupe on her hill
but who am i
to doubt these mysteries
cured in centuries of blood and candle smoke
i am least of all your pilgrims here
but i am most in need of hope

she appeared to
juan diego
she left her image
on his cape
five hundred years
of sorrow
have not destroyed their deepest faith
but here i am your ragged disbeliever
old doubting thomas drowns in tears
as i watched
your church sink
through the earth
like a heart worn down through fear

she is reaching out
her arms tonight
and my poverty is real
i pray roses shall rain down again
from guadalupe on her hill
but who am i to doubt these mysteries
cured in centuries of blood and candle smoke
i am least of all your pilgrims here
but i am most in need of hope

--tom russell